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Park Tudor Standouts Gretchen Farley and Sophia Kennedy Shine at Pike Regional

Published by
DyeStat.com   May 24th 2023, 7:24am
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Farley Runs No. 2 All-Time Indiana 800 Meters (2:05.88), Kennedy Nearly Cracks 10 Minutes For 3,200 Meters And Also No. 2 In State History

By David Woods for DyeStat

INDIANAPOLIS – We might have to go back nearly 50 years to find an Indiana distance duo like this one.

In races starting 10 minutes apart, Park Tudor seniors Gretchen Farley and Sophia Kennedy each ran the No. 2 time in Hoosier history Tuesday night at the Pike Regional.

The Kennedys and Farleys used to live on Pennsylvania Street in Indianapolis homes separated by 73rd Street. The swing set was popular on the Kennedys’ corner, and the Farleys’ side lots allowed room to chase a soccer ball.

Now, the two girls chase records on the track.

Farley needed to run 800 meters as fast as 2:05.88 to hold off Delta junior Nicki Southerland, who was second in 2:06.12. They became Nos. 2 and 3 in Indiana history and are US#7 and US#8 in 2023.

Only Indiana times faster are by Huntington North’s Addy Wiley – 2:04.40 at Renton, Wash., in 2021, and 2:04.64 at Eugene, Ore., in 2022.

Farley had relatively even splits of 62.3/63.5, and she said she would go out faster at the state meet. Her previous PB was 2:09.24 from a week ago. Southerland, winner of the 1,600 in 4:50.97, chased her all the way to the end.

“Coming to 150 left, I did not know she was that close,” Farley said. “I saw her in my peripheral vision, so I thought, ‘Oh, I gotta kick to another gear.’“

The former middle-school sprinter, who won a 200/400 double in her conference meet, did so.

Kennedy won a solo 3,200 in 10:00.56, challenging the 2015 state record of 9:56.48 (converted from two miles) by Mishawaka’s Anna Rohrer.

Top three in each event from eight regionals, plus those meeting standards, advance to the single-class state meet June 3 at Bloomington.

Oddly, neither Farley nor Kennedy has won a state title, although they led Park Tudor to a small-school indoor team championship.

Sophia is the daughter of Bob Kennedy, a two-time Olympian and four-time NCAA champion at Indiana University. Gretchen is the sister of Hannah and Abby Farley, who were three-time state champions at 400 and 800, respectively.

A case could be made no school in Indiana has had such a duo since Rudy Chapa and Carey Pinkowski were running for Hammond High in the mid-1970s.

In both 1974 and 1975 at state, it was Pinkowski winning the mile and Chapa the two-mile. They tied for the state cross country title in 1974. (Teammates Chapa, Pinkowski and Tim Keough all broke nine minutes in the two-mile in 1975.) Chapa went on to win an NCAA 5,000 title at Oregon and broke Steve Prefontaine’s American record at 3,000. Pinkowski has been director of the Chicago Marathon since 1990.

Inevitably, Farley is rounding into form late. She is a two-time state champion in soccer, two-time national qualifier in cross country and 1,000-point scorer in basketball. For a school project, she once dressed as Babe Didrikson Zaharias, perhaps the greatest female multisport athlete ever.

She tried to qualify for state in the 3,200, too. But that race started eight minutes after the 800, and she labored to finish sixth in 11:51.61. She anchored the 4x400 relay in 57.2, completing all three races in a span of 49 minutes.

“So, the 3,200 definitely felt really painful,” Farley said.

Kennedy, with a US#13, will get at least two more races to run sub-10:00 – at state and June 14 at the Brooks PR Invitational.

“I figured on a night like tonight, I might as well go push myself. It’s good practice for the state meet,” she said. “When the time comes around when there’s more competition, the energy is higher, hopefully I can dip under that 10-minute mark.”

Elsewhere at Pike, Heritage Christian sophomore Kya Crooke won four events: 100 in 12.13, 300 hurdles in 44.34 (second in the state), high jump at 5-8 (1.73m) and long jump at 18-1 (5.51m). Cathedral pole vaulter Kailee Swart set a regional record of 13-2.25 (4.02m) and missed three attempts at 13-9 (4.19m).

Bishop Chatard won the 4x100 and 4x400 relays in 47.98 and 3:58.36, respectively, to secure its first regional title. Chatard edged Cathedral 60-56.

Carmel could sprint (?!) to state title

Carmel, with an enrollment of 5,327, is the largest high school in Indiana and one of the largest in the country. It has won 19 state titles in girls cross country but, paradoxically, just two in track – and none since 1999.

That could change in 2023, thanks to . . . its sprinters?

If sectional bests assembled by Indiana Runner were scored as in the state meet, Carmel would have 59 points. Of those, 43 are in the 100, 200, 400, 4x100 and 4x400, and 16 in distance races.

Next in projected scoring come Noblesville 48.21, Warren Central 46, Bloomington North 38.5, Brownsburg 28.5, Center Grove 25, Columbus North 23, Heritage Christian 21.5 (all by Crooke), Park Tudor 20.

At Lafayette Jeff, Noblesville scored 49 of its 94 points in field events, winning a third straight regional 94-83 over Carmel. Brownsburg was third with 74.

There were state-leading marks in six events: Westfield’s Princess Campbell (11.89) in the 100, Carmel sophomore Emily Norris (24.78) in the 200, Brownsburg (47.32) in the 4x100 relay, Carmel (3:51.26/9:12.82) in the 4x400 and 4x800 relays, Noblesville’s Malina Miller (5-10/1.78m) in the high jump. Norris was second in the 100 in 12.01.

Laila Smith a quadruple winner

In other regionals:

>> At Franklin:  Warren Central junior Laila Smith, who missed her entire sophomore season because of a stress fracture in her foot, won a quadruple – 100 hurdles in 14.61, 300 hurdles in 43.10, long jump at 19-1.25 (5.82m) and 4x400 in 3:56.53. Smith’s 300 hurdles time is No. 1 in Indiana this year and one second off the best by her cousin, Ashley Spencer, a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist. Double winners were Center Grove’s Shelby Wingler repeating in shot (49-2.50/15.00m) and discus (145-3/44.28m), and Connersville freshman Aynihah Bennett in the 100/200 with 12.03/25.32.

>> At Bloomington: Junior Hadley Lucas of Bloomington North, defending state champion in both throws, had a fourth 50-foot meet in the shot (15.24m) and won the discus at 163-11 (49.95m).

>> At Evansville Central: Forest Park’s Rachel Mehringer, bidding for a third state title in the 100 hurdles, won in 13.75 and took the 300 hurdles in 44.42. She is Indiana’s fastest hurdler in 41 years.

Contact David Woods at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.



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